Clearing the Air
by Emma Brown
Summary: AU. Charming Family fluff. The night their family is reunited, Emma tells her parents what she's been keeping bottled up for twenty eight years. Oneshot. Complete.


Clearing the Air

The darkness of her small bedroom was pressing in around her. She could hear voices in the kitchen, recognizing them to be Mary Margaret and David, Snow White and Prince Charming...mom and dad.

She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a soft laugh. A part of her was still convinced that everything that happened during the day was the result of someone drugging her and her having hallucinations as a side effect. There was no way her son ate a poisonous apple turnover, there certainly was no way she battled a dragon that was hidden underneath the town and there was absolutely no way in hell that Mary Margaret and David Nolan were her birth parents.

Henry shifted in his sleep beside her and let out a soft sigh. The voices in the kitchen were growing softer. She opened her eyes and glanced at her son who was now sleeping with one arm thrown across his face and his mouth hanging open. She grinned. They shared similar ungraceful sleeping positions.

Swinging her legs over the side of her bed she padded towards the door and opened it slightly. She felt slightly strange, as though she was a young girl spying on a private conversation between her parents. Well, she thought, that's not exactly far from the truth. She let out a breath and walked towards the voices.

When she spotted them she paused and tilted her head. Mary Margaret was sitting at the kitchen island, sipping a cup of cocoa slowly. There were tear stains on her pale cheeks and her nose was slightly red. David sat next to her; a comforting hand placed on her shoulder, his mug of cocoa left untouched before him. He was whispering something in Mary Margaret's ear that was making her tear up more.

Instantly she felt guilt surge through her body but she quickly shook it off. After the purple smoke had cleared and the initial commotion on the streets had died down, she had approached her roommate with Henry. Automatically, Mary Margaret enveloped her in a hug and started sobbing on her shoulder, whispering "My little girl, you found us." David quickly joined in, holding her tightly, causing her to feel extremely uncomfortable. After breaking away from her parents she awkwardly told the crowd and Henry that she was tired and that she would be at the apartment. It wasn't a complete lie. Battling a dragon takes a lot out of a person.

Mary Margaret, David and Henry arrived at the apartment almost an hour later, finding her on the couch, reading Henry's book closely. She didn't even hear them come in. David had cleared his throat, scaring her and causing her to drop the tome to the ground with a loud thud.

"You alright, mom?" asked Henry. She was startled with his use of the word 'mom'. She knew Regina would have a field day if she found out but guessing by the day's events, the mayor, or Evil Queen, probably had bigger things on her hands to deal with.

"Fine kid, just tired." Mary Margaret had stepped forward and she knew by the look on her roommates face that she wanted to talk. About everything. But she just wasn't ready. "I think I'm going to bed. Henry you can sleep in my room tonight."

"But..." Henry started, obviously upset that she wanted to leave so quickly.

"Night guys," she quickly interrupted before heading to her bedroom.

She knew that was the reason for Mary Margaret's tears now but her guilt was crushed by the lingering feeling of betrayal.

Her foot hit a floorboard and the loud creak echoed throughout the kitchen.

"Emma?" asked Mary Margaret, looking up from her cocoa. She quickly wiped her eyes and plastered a smile on her face.

"Sorry," Emma said. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Nonsense," David said, a small smile playing on his lips. "You weren't interrupting anything."

Emma nodded and slowly walked towards the pair. "So," she said, gently sitting down across from them. "Big day, huh?"

Mary Margaret laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you can say that. Were you having trouble sleeping?"

"Well, it's not every day I battle a dragon, learn that every one I've been seeing daily are fairy tale characters and my roommate is actually my mother, who is actually Snow White." Everything came out in a rush of words, she wondered if they had caught any of that.

"You battled a dragon?" asked David, his eyes widening. "When? Where?"

Emma grinned. "This afternoon, before that purple smoke came. Apparently Regina had been keeping it locked away under the town. I had to get some...potion thing out of it. To save Henry."

"Ah, Maleficent." David said knowingly.

"Maleficent? How do you know?" asked Mary Margaret.

"Who do you think put the potion there?"

Mary Margaret laughed and shook her head but when her eyes fell on Emma, her laughter quickly subsided. "That was very dangerous, going against a dragon. You have no training. You could have been killed."

"Believe me, I realized that. But it was for Henry."

Mary Margaret grinned and looked at David who was smirking somewhat himself. "He is a special little boy. I can't believe I'm a grandfather."

Emma turned her head away, knowing the direction this conversation was headed in.

"Emma," Mary Margaret said, reaching towards her daughter and placing a hand on hers. "We don't have to talk about everything now. We have all the time in the world to...talk." Emma nodded but didn't say a word. "But if you want to talk...we're here to listen. We're your parents and..." At the word 'parents' Emma laughed and shook her head. "What?"

"Where was this compassion twenty eight years ago?" Her tone was harsher than she intended it to be but she didn't care. "Where were your parental instincts when you were sending me away, on my own, to a world you knew nothing about?"

"Emma..."

"We did it to save you," said David. "If we didn't place you in the wardrobe, you would have been killed by Regina's guards. You were the only way to defeat the curse."

"I understand," said Emma. "But I never asked for that. You could have gone into hiding with me. We could have tried to escape Regina...we could have stayed together."

"It wasn't that simple," said Mary Margaret, shaking her head sadly. "Regina...she would have found us, we still would have been effected by the curse."

"Maybe," said Emma. "But how was placing me in a magical wardrobe that sent me to a place you knew nothing about a better option?"

"We had faith in the Blue Fairy that we were sending you to a safe land." Mary Margaret said, tears forming in her eyes again. "We would have never sent you to a land we knew to be dangerous."

Emma felt tears forming in her eyes and she scoffed. "Not dangerous? You have no idea what this world is about. You've been locked away in Storybrooke, Maine; you've been closed off from the real world for twenty eight years. You may have magic and evil curses but that doesn't mean I wasn't living in a cursed world as well,"

Mary Margaret stared at her daughter and reached out to touch her again but Emma quickly pulled away. "I think I'm going to go back to bed. I don't want Henry to wake up with me not there."

She hopped off the barstool and started walking back in the direction of her bedroom.

"Emma, please," came Mary Margaret's tear clogged voice. Emma paused in her step and hunched her shoulders. "We just wanted to give you your best chance."

Emma turned around, struck with the familiar words she had once uttered to Henry. "I know," she whispered.

Mary Margaret walked towards her and placed her hands on Emma's shoulders. "I would do anything and everything in my power if that meant things could have been different. I would give anything to know what your first word was or see you take your first step. I'm sorry,"

Emma stared at Mary Margaret and then at David who staring at the ground, a forlorn look on his face. "I'm pictured this moment in my head for so many years." Emma whispered. "I pictured my parents coming back and rescuing me and apologizing for being late. But when I grew older and realized they weren't coming back...I stopped wanting them to."

Mary Margaret took a sharp intake of breath and looked down at the wooden floor. "Oh," she whispered.

"If I were to meet them in the future, I had a whole...speech planned of what I would say to them. I never imagined that I would actually...understand where they were coming from by...giving me up."

David stood up and placed a hand on Mary Margaret's shoulder. "So tell us,"

"What?"

Mary Margaret looked up at David and nodded. "Yes, tell us. Tell us exactly what you've wanted to tell us for twenty-eight years. We're never going to move forward if you keep that bottled up inside any longer. We're never going to get over that wall."

Emma let out a breath. "I can't,"

"Why not?" asked David.

"Because I actually like you,"

"Please Emma," Mary Margaret said, reaching out and touching her daughter's arm. This time Emma didn't pull away. "We need to move forward."

Emma nodded slowly and rolled her shoulders, as though she was about to tackle a criminal. "I would say...how can you give me up? I know I'm nothing special but I should have been to you."

"You are something special!" Mary Margaret said while David forcefully voiced "Of course you're special to us,"

Emma smirked. "Guys, this will be easier if you don't interrupt. Just let me get through this."

They both nodded. "Of course," said Mary Margaret.

"It was horrible growing up in the foster system. I was told at a very young age that my parents thought I was garbage. Other kids would find out about me and pick on me, telling me that my mom and dad tossed me out of their car like I was trash. Why else would I have been found on the side of a highway? It's not easy growing up hearing that you're worthless on a daily basis." Emma paused and shook her head. "I wanted to ask you how you could not check up on me. Make sure I was in a safe home? How could you allow your daughter, your own flesh and blood to be abused, beaten on a regular basis by foster parents and foster siblings? I wanted ask you if you really wanted me to die when you left me where you did. I never had anyone stick up for me or put me first in their life because you left me." Emma stopped and looked at her parents, who were both staring at her, their eyes wide and tearful. "I needed my parents. I need you and you weren't there," she said, tears now falling down her own face. "How can you not be there? I needed you there to protect me. I needed you to love me but you...you weren't there. Why wasn't I good enough to keep? It always baffled my mind that I was found in a blanket that had my name stitched on it. It's obvious my parents wanted me at some point, having had that made. Was it when you saw me, _met_ me, that you realized I wasn't good enough? That I wasn't..."

Her words were cut short when Mary Margaret crashed into her daughter, wrapping her arms tightly around her neck. Emma was caught off guard and stared at David who was crying silently. He walked towards them and he too wrapped his arms around her. With both her parents crying and embracing her so fiercely, Emma couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"I don't think that anymore, you know."

"The fact that you had to go your entire life thinking that is heartbreaking enough," said David. "The fact that you had to...endure all you did." He held her tighter.

Mary Margaret broke away and shook her head. "If I would have known that even a fraction of that would happen, I would have never agreed to send you through the wardrobe."

Emma sighed. "Listen, it's not going to be easy for me and it might take some time, but I'm willing to...try. I want to try. It's weird and it's not something I'm used to...having parents that love me and want to protect me, but it's something I've wanted for a very long time and I'm not going to ruin it."

Mary Margaret smiled a watery smile and wrapped her daughter in her arms again. "You don't have a choice, baby. I'm never letting you go again."

Emma smirked and backed away from her parents. "Alright, well, I think I'm going to get back to Henry."

David nodded and placed his arm around Mary Margaret's shoulders as they watched their daughter retreat back to her bedroom.

Emma paused in her steps and glanced over her shoulder. "I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I was told that my first word was my own name. My foster families would tell me that was because I was selfish and that I only thought of myself, but I always liked to think that it was because it was my only connection I had towards my real family."

Mary Margaret leaned into David's side and let out a breath. "Thank you, Emma."

Emma nodded slightly before walking the rest of the way towards her bedroom. She knew she and her parents had a lot more hurdles to get over and walls to break down but she was positive that tonight had been a starting point to move forward. As she climbed back into bed, she heard her parent's footsteps retreating towards Mary Margaret's bedroom and she smiled slightly to herself.

For the first time in her life, she was surrounded by family and as crazy as the day's events had been, Emma knew that she would fall asleep with a clear mind and the feeling of total safety, something she had never experienced before.

* * *

_A/N: Just something short that I wrote a little while ago. I'm working on a multi-chapter AU OUAT fic now. Hopefully I'll start posting that soon._

_Thanks for reading! Please review!_


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